Jirō Akutagawa
Background Although Jirō is always seen napping, don't let his appearance fool you. At the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament, he defeated Fuji Yūta in less than 15 minutes. Jirō only perks up when he is playing against a challenging opponent. So far this has happened a few times, including matches with Atobe Keigo, Marui Bunta and Fuji Shūsuke. He regularly awakened by Kabaji under Atobe's orders since he even sleeps moments before his own match. Appearance Jiro is usually half asleep. He has messy orange-coloured hair (blonde in the manga) which goes past chin-length. He has brown eyes. Personality Marui_Jirou_Chibi.jpeg|Chibi Marui and Jirou Marui_Jirou2.jpeg|Fanboying over Marui Marui_Jirou5.jpeg Jirou6.jpeg|Admiring Marui Jirou is usually seen sleeping, giving him the nickname "Sleeping Beauty". When he is playing tennis, especially against a worthy opponent, he will be overly excited about the match. When the match is over, he will go back to napping. He holds great respect and admiration for Atobe, Fuji, and Marui. In his first year of Hyotei, he was the only person in the tennis club that did not oppose to Atobe being the King of the club. However, Marui seems to be the person he is most in awe of, having been shown to act like a fanboy (and even giving up his habit of sleeping during practice when Atobe set that as a condition for arranging a game between him and Marui). They also both share a love for desserts and sweets. In the Ova "Another Story II - Jirou's Awakening", when not sleeping, Jirou showed that he's quite an airhead, even openly commented by Yuushi and Gakuto. History Two Years Prior To The Storyline FRESHMAN jirou.png|A young Jirou Jirou2.jpeg|Playing against Marui Jirou7.jpeg|Jirou Akutagawa Akutagawa along with the rest of the Hyotei seniors began Hyotei academy as freshman and on their first day during assembly endure a speech from the new student body president who to their surprise turns out to be Atobe Keigo. He arrogantly announces that he is the King which Jirou tells Shishido and Mukahi that it makes things interesting while Shishido feels the opposite. Districts Akutagawa ends up drawing the attention of the whole Hyotei tennis club due to his bad habit of sleeping right through training sessions from the moment he enters the court. Atobe Keigo, Oshitari Yushi and Mukahi Gakuto decided it would be best to investigate their friend on what could possibly keep him awake. Shown during an OVA, Akutagawa had a friendly match with his volley rival Marui Bunta just before the tournament. Tokyo Prefecturals Akutagawa, like teammates Oshitari Yushi, Ootori Choutaro and Mukahi Gakuto did not appear in the Tokyo Prefectural tournament until after Hyotei were knocked out by Fudomine as Hyotei were arrogant and only sent out 3 regulars to the tournament. They appeared in the 5th place consolation match against St.Rudolph. During the 5th place consolation match at the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament he crushed Fuji Yūta 6-1 in under 15 minutes with his Magic Volley technique. Regionals During the matches in Round 1 of the Kanto Regionals, Jiro wandered off to sleep, causing Atobe to send Kabaji to find him. During his Singles 2 match, Jiro in turn was crushed by Fuji Shūsuke who was fully motivated to defeat Jiro after hearing that he crushed his younger brother Yuta. Nationals Jirou, Shishido and Kabaji.jpg|Jirou during the Nationals at Hyotei VS Seigaku. Although Hyotei were knocked out in the 1st Round of the Kanto Regionals by Seigaku which prevented them for heading to the Nationals, due to Tokyo being the host city for the tournament, it allowed to give a place in the tournament to their next best team that failed to qualify, which turned out to be Hyotei. This meant Akutagawa could go the Nationals with Hyotei. At the Nationals he wins all of his matches however against Seigaku he was the reserve player. Jiro and Hyotei cruise through the tournament, crushing last years best four Shishigaku along the way. However Hyotei meet nemesis Seigaku at the Quarterfinals and the two have a long dramatic encounter again. However Hyotei ultimately lose with 2 wins and 3 losses, which ends Hyotei's run. Jiro and Hyotei are present in the audience during the Finals between Rikkai Dai and Seigaku. U-17 Camp Along with his teammates that played in the Nationals, Jiro gets invited to the U-17 camp along with many other middle schoolers. Upon arrival, the middle schoolers gather together. A helicopter suddenly drops tennis balls on the floor. The head coach then announces that all players unable to obtain a ball must leave the camp. All middle schoolers are able to obtain a ball. Later on in the day, the Mental Coach arrives and requests all middle schoolers pair up. Akutagawa pairs with Kabaji Munehiro. He then suddenly declares all pairs must play a quick tie-break game where the loser must go home. Jiro then easily defeats his next High School opponents and reaches the 5th Court along with Tachibana Kippei, Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Tezuka Kunimitsu, Atobe Keigo, Chitose Senri, Ishida Gin, Kite Eishirō, Akutsu Jin, Kirihara Akaya and Liliadent Krauser. Since all the middle schoolers that won their tie-breaks win their shuffle matches, it results in all members of the 6th Court and 5th Court being Middle Schoolers except for Oni Juujiro The Gate Keeper who is known for staying in the 5th Court to strengthen the lower courts. Oni decides to request the 5th Court be put forward for a Team Shuffle where the winning team replaces the losing team regardless of the players that lost. Jiro is not selected during the Team Shuffle against the 3rd Court. Due to Irie Kanata allowing his encounter with Atobe in Singles 1 of the Team Shuffle be a draw for his own amusement, it allows the reserve game to take place. Oni surprisingly takes part in the reserve role and crushes the 3rd Court's Takei Toshio. Making the 5th Court replace the 3rd Court which results in Jiro becoming a member of the 3rd Court. Akutagawa is present with the rest of the camp later on when the Top 10 arrive at the main courts and witness the shock upset that No.s 11-19 were defeated and replaced by Middle Schoolers. Tennis Record Playing Style and Techniques Jirō is a volley specialist and his play style is Serve and Volley which was inspired by Marui Bunta during their freshman year. Jirō is perhaps the only player in the series who is perfectly content with a loss as long as it is memorable. Jiro is said to be blessed with flexible wrists, which allow him to pull of many of his wondrous volleys. Magic Volley : Due to his god given soft wrists, Jirō can volley at any positions and it is nearly impossible to predict where his volleys will drop. Personal Information *Jirou is 160cm tall *Best Subjects: Technology, P.E *Worse Subjects: Classics, Classical Chinese *Places often visited in school: Quadrangle, Back courtyard, Rooftop, Infirmary *Favourite Colour: Orange *Favourite Food: Lamb, Mousse pocky *Favourite Movie: Will become sleepy no matter what he sees *Favourite Book: All shounen (young males) manga *Favourite Music: Will become sleepy no matter what he hears *Favourite Type: Bright and fun person *Place you want to go for dates: Manga Cafe *Thing you want most now: I want a huge sofa in my room *Routine duties: Changing pillowcase *Dislikes(/bad at): Tomatoes Trivia *Jirō has appeared in all of the Shonen Jump character popularity polls since his introduction into the story. In the second poll, he came in 25th place. In both third and fourth polls, he came in 13th place. *He is played by Takuya and Taiki Naitou in the musicals and by Genki Ishii in the live action film. *He has been shown able to use his left hand to play as seen in chapter 141 in the flashback to the Fuji Yuuta match *He is stated to be Hyotei's No.2 in PairPuri Vol. 7 Category:Characters Category:Tennis Player Category:Hyotei Tennis Club Member Category:Middle Schooler Category:3rd Year Middle School Category:U-17 Camp Category:Serve and Volley Category:Right-Handed Category:Tokyo Players Category:Kanto Players Category:Has an episode named after them Category:2nd Stringers